Television is widely used in modem society as a source of both information and entertainment. Cable and satellite subscription systems can supplement local over-the-air broadcasting to provide dozens or even hundreds of channels of programming. This wide variety of programming accounts for the great popularity of subscription television. Additionally, the current trend is for subscription television systems to provide additional services such as premium channels, pay-per-view programming, video-on-demand programming, Internet and telephone network access.
In advanced subscription television systems, each subscriber is typically provided with a set-top terminal. The set-top terminal is a device containing electronic equipment that is used to connect the subscriber's television, or other electronic equipment, to the system operator's television system. The television set-top terminal processes the signal received from the television system to provide the services of the system to subscribers.
Previously, a set-top terminal could be obtained only from the system operator, generally as leased equipment. However, increasingly, a set-top terminal may be obtained from sources other than the system operator such as electronic equipment manufacturers, commercial retail outlets, and other vendors not affiliated with the system operator.
As the services from the subscription television system expand, security techniques for those services become crucial to ensure that only subscribers who have paid for the services have access to them. The importance of conditional access in contemporary television distribution networks is therefore undeniable, as well as in other applications that may require conditional access (e.g., streaming media, Internet applications). Reducing or eliminating piracy and/or signal theft not only benefits a system operator's ongoing business, but also protects the copyright holder of the content. As an aid in providing for this security, recently there has emerged the development and distribution of a removable, replaceable security device for use with a set-top terminal, often called a Point-of-Deployment (POD) module, or more generally, security separable module (SSM).
An SSM is a device that will permit conditional access by the subscriber to the subscription television system, while providing the required security against unauthorized signal reception. This device will not be integrally designed into a set-top terminal. Instead, subscribers will subsequently obtain the SSM from the equipment provider and interface it to a specially adapted port attached to the set-top terminal (also frequently called “the host”).
As the retail availability of set-top terminals having SSM access is realized, consumers will need a convenient procedure to purchase at retail, a set-top terminal, a system subscription, and an SSM; and to have the SSM activated. It is, therefore, necessary to have a suitable method of distributing and activating the SSM in a manner that will insure proper access onto the subscription television system by authorized subscribers only. In the cellular phone industry, smart cards have been used to provide system security and conditional access. These cards allow subscriber information to be stored on a card that is inserted into the phone. Although this solution allows for the storage of subscriber related information on the card, methods for activation of the card at retail outlets and for preservation of access control integrity for video services are required.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a method of distributing the SSM to the consumer while simultaneously insuring that the SSM cannot be copied or activated in an unauthorized manner, or as least that adequately practical security can be achieved.